EU Joins Mastodon Social Network, Sets Up Its Own Server
The European Union is the latest group to join the social network Mastodon, which has seen a surge of new users after Elon Musk's bid for Twitter was accepted.
On Thursday, the European Commission said it had set up its own server, dubbed EU Voice, to join Mastodon's decentralized social network, also known as a "Fediverse."
The effort is currently only a pilot, but it represents the EU’s goal of supporting private and open-source software capable of rivaling mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. On the same day, the European Commission also launched an account for PeerTube, another decentralized platform that revolves around video sharing.
“With the pilot launch of EU Voice and EU Video, we aim to offer alternative social media platforms that prioritize individuals and their rights to privacy and data protection," said European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski.
“In concrete terms this means, for example, that EU Voice and EU Video do not rely on transfers of personal data to countries outside the European Union and the European Economic Area; there are no advertisements on the platforms; and there is no profiling of individuals that may use the platforms,” he added. “These measures, amongst others, give individuals the choice on and control over how their personal data is used.”
The news could help boost visibility for Mastodon, which hopes to become a viable Twitter alternative. On Thursday, Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko reported that the decentralized social network had “gained 112,413 monthly active users in the last few days” after Musk announced his takeover of Twitter.
Mastodon has 384,000 monthly active users, Rochko added, which pales in comparison to
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